gaining and loosing engineering specialties 6

[2dye4]

What engineering disciplines are on the way up from
the perspective of demand and what are on the way down??

My take on it

Advancing
Chemical,Eniviromental,Aeronoutical,Civil,Petroleum,Structural

Declining
Electrical,Mechanical,Mining,Computer

Agree / Disagree

Who did I leave out??

2d4

 

[Geof]

Manufacturing and Industrial are on their way down in the US as well.

Nuclear? I've seen programs eliminated at some schools while they are created at others.

Geof

 

[EddyC]

Are we talking the USA or the whole world?

 

[Tobalcane]

I have seen Mechanical Engineering flat line before and after graduation (10 years ago). Not really a hot field, but can not do with out.

Go Mechanical Engineering
Tobalcane

 

[49078]

software is down, engineering physics is essentially non-existent.

I just graduated a couple years ago, and i know people who still can't find jobs in those fields. When i started school eng phys was the thing to take.

I took materials, there were significantly more job postings when i graduated than people in my class, and everyone had a job before the exams of last term. I'm not if that counts as going up.

 

[2dye4]

since it is a global economy lets make it global.

2d4

 

[GregLocock]

I think aeronautical is flat lining at best.

I think you are wrong about mining/geological





Cheers

Greg Locock

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[BillPSU]

Automation and technology is having a impact in all engineering fields. PLC's reduced electrical engineering in plants and moved it into programming. 3-D imaging has reduced surveying and other engineering related tasks. CAM systems has reduced CNC programming to a cerical job in some factories. Simulation, rapid prototyping, and FEA has reduced staffing in R/D departments. CAD systems reduce the number of engineers making drawings. Strength calculations are done automatically.
The human race is not doing new things we are doing the same things better. The new taller buildings. The larger ships. The long suspension bridges. Faster computers. Water treatment plants. Generating facilities. Automotive plants. All of these engineered products require mammoth amounts of engineering but is it based on "new" things. The fastest aircraft ever flown were designed in the 1960's. We are all about reusing our current technology to meet cost targets, or weight targets, or customer satisfaction.
The price of fuel will cause some people to do something new I hope. Going to Mars will cause advances and increase the need for engineers. Fusion if it was attacked similarly as the Manhattan Project attacked fission would probably be solved.

Demand for engineering is down due to the designing of automated engineering processes and the lack of leadership to do new things.

 

[SmithsJohn2]

How about the bio-engineering?

I think now, all nio- or medical-related industry are "hot"

 

[aspearin1]

In my area ChemE has flatlined and MechE has picked up, (so I altered my course of study). Also, Environmental is pure overhead for companies and is truly only enforced under certain political systems, especially in a bad economy. In the US, Environmental Engineering demands have been put on the back burner (for the war, oil, and corporate leniency). However, it's a powder keg. There's a lot of unexplored and unresolved environmental issues out there. Under the right administration, the field will boom.

ChemE, M.E. EIT
"The only constant in life is change." -Bruce Lee

 

[rb1957]

nano-technology
fusion power
novel fission reactors (pebble reactors)
ET (seriously, it's going to go from none to some)
oil extraction (to bring the more difficult reserves on-line)
deep-sea (exploration, exploitation)
airships are having a re-birth

 

[bandraoi]

Environmental is booming in Europe - lots of interesting research and innovation taking place there.

Civil is flat lining, sure there are lots of jobs, but there's very little new stuff coming on stream, it's the same old same old with roads and pipe laying.

Structural will probably get more interesting on the back of environmental - new materials and new ideas about the best ways of doing things.

Geotechnical is a black art at the best of times. I think there will be more tunnelling in the future because of the pressure on space which will increase demand and research but aside from that it's hard to judge.

 

[chestilow]

I'd have to disagree with Mechanical declining, at least in the EPC field. I'm working in Houston and recruiters are struggling to feel positions down here. On average, I'm getting about a call every couple of weeks looking for rotating equipment or heat transfer engineers.

 

[sms]

That's what I am seeing as well chestilow. Rotating machinery in particular, but mechanical engineers with refinery or chem plant experience in general are in high demand. As are EE's with control system experience.

As a rotating machinery guy, I took advantage and start a new job in September.

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[SmithsJohn2]

sms,

What kind of Rotating machinery is hot or popular right now?

chestilow,

What is EPC? Environmental protection centre???

 

[gwolf]

Aerospace Stress analysis is hot as hell at the moment. Even post 9/11, it was quiet for 3 years, yes, but I had no problem at all staying employed on good rates in both civil and military.

 

[ScottyUK]

Electrical power in the UK is struggling to recruit from a dwindling pool of engineers. The job market in power has never been as buoyant as it is right now, and the good times have been with us for a few years. It is a welcome marked change to the black hole of depression which was the power industry in the late 80's and early 90's when the industry was privatised.

Most universities are closing down their power labs because they're expensive to maintain, occupy a lot of space, and don't have the 'wow' factor needed to attract students which leads to small classes. This could be a good thing in the long term because the few universities who do have the facilities will have the opportunity to become first-class learning centres able to run full classes and attract investment from industry.


----------------------------------

One day my ship will come in.
But with my luck, I'll be at the airport!

 

[sms]

SmithsJohn:

Steam Turbines, Gas Turbines, compressors, pumps, motors, if you have experience with this kind of equipment and especially if you have experience in power plants, refineries, chemical plants, and gas/oil production the market is pretty good right now.

EPC: Engineering/Procurment/Construction in other words big engineering firms like Bechtel that design and build plants and big projects.

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[makeup]

There is no skills shortage, its paralysis by analysis caused by the engineering companies themselves (Theory of constraints).

 

[moltenmetal]

There's no skills shortage, there's simply an inability of companies to consider investing properly in training their employees. Years of downsizing, and the consequent lack of loyalty from employees, will do that to a company.

Whether there's a shortage or an oversupply depends on where you look, and at what experience level. If you're a mid-career engineer, things aren't so bad. If you're early or very late in your career, you could be in trouble. If you're a company looking for people with 10-20 years experience in a particular specialty, willing to take a 3 month contract at an average full-timer's salary, perhaps there's a shortage of takers- particularly if it's in an area of practice which was in massive retreat and wasn't hiring new grads 10 or 20 years ago. (Stands to reason, doesn't it? But some companies in this situation scream "shortage" and politicians listen!) If you're a recent grad or recent immigrant engineer currently looking for work in Canada as an engineer, most particularly Ontario and most particularly Toronto, things are pretty bleak.

As to the original post: civil, mechanical, chemical and electrical are all mature fields now. Computer was flamed out here five years ago and still hasn't recovered. The others (geo, aerospace, environmental etc.) are really just sub-specialties of these, suffering from the vaguaries of supply and demand common to narrowly focused disciplines. They boom, but they also bust.

Is bio-engineering hot these days? The same rumours of this field being "hot" were circulating 20 years ago and it's no more true now than it was then in my view. "The next big thing" has been used by the business community as an excuse to increase engineering supply and reduce wage and working condition pressures on engineering employers for the past 20 years. "The next big thing" changes yearly to keep the politicians in a perpetual state of worry. Now they're adding the "baby boom" demographic shift as an excuse to keep the oversupply going, even though these folks won't retire en masse for at least another 10-20 years.